


Teacherly Misdirection

by Foodmoon



Series: Sakura, Empath [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Gen, Grumpily, Naruto refrains from showing off
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 13:29:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14356479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foodmoon/pseuds/Foodmoon
Summary: If Iruka's going to be blamed for teaching the kids things used in pranks, he may as well teach them all. And if he's lucky, he might even avoid a reprimand for doing it.





	Teacherly Misdirection

Iruka realizes almost immediately that he’s made a mistake in singling out Naruto for a technique that can easily be used as a prank. Granted, ‘almost immediately’ is about three days late and after ten minutes of laughing himself silly watching Ebisu wiggling and cursing and generally doing an enthusiastic impression of a hyperactive booger hanging off the lower edge of the First’s stone nostril.

He braces himself for being dragged in front of the Hokage to account for his carelessness when Naruto confesses, but several hours later it still hasn’t happened, and he realizes that either Naruto hasn’t confessed or they weren’t able to pin it on him. This brings up a different problem, though. All the Hokage needs to do to find the culprit _(provided that Naruto is not just refusing to name who gave it to him)_ is ask Iruka if he knows if any of the kids learned the trap seal from school. So he adds the trap seal to the curriculum for the next day.

It might be a little…mendacious, but Iruka was an enthusiastic prankster as a kid and he knows how to hide his tracks. He _(and Naruto)_ will get in a lot less trouble overall if he just teaches all the little terrors the relatively harmless prank seal. Conspiracy isn’t a label either of them needs. Besides, the parents deserve a few pranks if they’re going to teach their kids to look down on others.

Naruto shoots him a betrayed look as he turns from drawing it on the chalk board, and blurts, “But Iruka Sensei-”

Sakura leans up and hisses something in his ear, cutting off his protest. He hesitates, then leans back and crosses his arms, giving Iruka a grumpy stare.

Iruka hides a wince. He hadn’t considered how Naruto might take this. Now he’s going to have to come up with something else to give him for extra credit, apparently. Naruto might be kind hearted, but Iruka knows better than to underestimate an upset prankster. He used to be one, after all.

The boy’s lips remain pressed in a thin line for a few minutes while Iruka explains the basic concept before his natural ebullience pushes his annoyance aside and he’s shouting with the rest of the overeager brats about how cool it is. Iruka huffs a sigh.

“No, you may _not_ use the trap seal on civilians or your younger siblings. I advise you to avoid using them on your mothers as well, but that’s your funeral if you decide to. Now, practice copying it for half an hour, then we’ll go test them outside to see how well each of you understand the concept. Copy carefully, or you may fail to make it work at all.” There will probably be a lot of failures. But half an hour gives them enough time to create enough that at least a couple should work for each of them. And if they choose to use the trap seals on their _fathers_ , that’s none of his business. Most of the fathers are chunin or genin anyways, so if they fall for it, it’s their own fault for being careless.

Of course, if they’re foolish enough to try it on their _mothers_ , then they’ll learn that what nearly every mother in existence has in common is a vivid streak of _‘I brought you into this world and I can take you out of it, brat!’_ that should be regarded with fear and trembling by any sane child. Of course, ‘sane’ and ‘child’ aren’t necessarily synonymous even on a good day, and even less so when they are would be ninja children. He’s not sure if he hopes they’re smart enough to refrain so he doesn’t hear the screaming complaints after from angry mothers, or hopes they don’t and end up learning some commonsense the hard way. Most of them could use a little of that kind of commonsense.

Iruka loves kids, but he’s not willfully blind. He’s training these kids up as shinobi. Shinobi fight, shinobi kill, shinobi die. Most of these kids will never make it past genin rank, restricted to D ranks or the occasional C rank in the company of chunin if they’re particularly good, because they don’t have what it takes to _survive_ as a chunin or jonin. Or _worse_ , to make sure that teammates, even ones they don’t care for, survive.

That doesn’t mean they aren’t important, of course. If nothing else, they’re the last line of defense for the civilians and kids if the Leaf is invaded. Konohakagure is centered on the ideal of peace, but not being prepared would be suicide.

Fire country is situated where any of the other three great countries _(Wind, Earth, and Lightning)_ could easily try their borders, not to mention Water country to the east has not always been the most peaceful neighbor. No one talks about it, but it’s pretty certain that they had banded together with several other small, surrounding nations to destroy Uzushiokagure, Konoha’s closest ally, shortly before Iruka had been born.

He frowns at Naruto for a moment as he recalls that the Uzumakis were from Uzushiokagure. No, not just from it, the clan had held the leadership for generations and had been renowned for their seal work. Technically, one would expect Naruto to excel at seals. Particularly given how good the Fourth had been with them as well. Iruka blinks. He does remember Naruto’s explosion tags being rather flashy. Perhaps…

Sakura keeps whispering to Naruto as the class concentrates on drawing the seals, and several times Iruka overhears the word ‘ _basic’_ in emphatic tones.

The outrageous little suspicion that maybe he’s _wrong_ about why Naruto is upset grows with each repetition. It is not damped at all when Naruto finally quits just sighing at each reminder and says in a beleaguered tone, “I _know_ , Sakura.”

Practical demonstrations goes about as expected. One or two successes out of every five or six prepared seals. A couple of the kids seem to be instinctively better at it, and he marks them down for possible future training in fuinjutsu after Academy. There’s always work for those who can accurately make low level sealwork. If they make chunin or jonin, it’s a sideline at best, but for those who don’t, it can be a very decent main source of income. Every ninja make explosive tags, but very few of them have time to make as many as they use up in training, let alone on missions. _(Except Lee, poor kid, since he doesn’t actually have enough chakra to prime or use the ones he makes.)_ It’s not as if the tags conjure themselves out of thin air. And those are only the most basic and least tricky of seal work.

He notices that Shikamaru’s seals are perfectly drawn and identically _almost passable_ when used. Just good enough to pass the exercise, just bad enough that they wouldn’t so much as slow someone down even a second. So identical in result that he has to wonder if it’s on purpose. After, he watches as Shikamaru pauses beside Naruto in his amble back to his spot among the spectators, and bends to say something in his ear.

“But-!” Naruto protests. Both Shikamaru and Sakura are shaking their heads ‘no’ rather emphatically. Naruto says something that Iruka can’t hear, then settles back, crossing his arms in an openly sulky posture and shooting Iruka another betrayed glance. It makes that little suspicion grow just the slightest bit. Are they warning him off a prank? Or warning him off because they think he’ll succeed a little _too_ well?

Iruka doesn’t have time to think on it, however, because he has to watch the next student. Who is so terrible at it that the only success is the last try, and Iruka’s pretty sure that one only worked because one of the other kids made a comment that distracted her and she accidentally got it right enough to at least splash a little slime on her shoes. He praises her and makes a note that if she passes the genin test she’ll require some intensive training on using basic fuinjutsu before being taken out on any C ranks.

When it is Naruto’s turn, Sakura exclaims wordlessly, jerks the rather thick stack of tags out of his hand and sorts through them hurriedly. “Sorry, Iruka Sensei! Give him another moment, please. I accidentally mixed up some of my failures with his stack!”

Iruka is almost certain this is a boldfaced lie, but lets it pass. “Alright, Sakura.”

The stack she hands back is still thicker than most, but only about a third as high as the one she’d snatched to begin with. Naruto stares at her, then huffs and runs over and offers them for inspection. At first glance, the brushwork on them is rough, but a second glance shows that it’s not _rough_ so much as _bold_ and even more accurate than Shino’s or Sakura’s work. Only Shikamaru’s are on the same level, though he can’t tell if that’s the typical Nara genius at work or if Naruto has actually let the other boy practice off his extra credit homework.

“Alright, Naruto. All these should work. Go ahead and trigger one.”

Naruto actually frowns a little at him, and there’s a bitter edge to his words as he says, “They’re _traps,_ not-”

“ _Narutooo!”_ Sakura hisses.

He twitches and wipes the resentment off his face. “Sure thing, Iruka sensei.”

The first one just….gets damp. Very, very damp. Iruka gives Naruto a dry look. “I know you can do better than that.”

A couple of the brats start catcalling, but this breaks off abruptly in favor of yelps and screams over ( _presumably_ ) more bug illusions. The next few manifest as spurts of water, mildly sticky water, vaguely jelly-like water, an explosion of dirt, and oddly, a spurt of hot water. Given the expression of unmitigated glee on Ino’s face, Kiba's uncharacteristic silence, and the not-quite-right smile on Naruto’s face, Iruka is now _positive_ that Naruto is doing this on purpose.

“Did you know that the Uzumakis were renowned for their fuinjutsu?” he asks too quietly for anyone else to overhear, just as Naruto goes to do the last one. He feels vindicated when Naruto tosses him a startled glance and accidentally activates it _perfectly._ Then tosses Sakura a guilty look. Bingo! “Very good, Naruto! Alright, class. Time for kunai practice!”

He snags Naruto’s sleeve before he can run off. The boy squawks and flails, but doesn’t pull free.

“What’s up, Iruka sensei?”

“I’m curious. Are you and Shikamaru sharing extra credit techniques?”

Naruto brightens. “You could tell? I haven’t got his yet, Ino does, but I’ve almost learned Sakura’s!”

Iruka can’t help grinning. “Glad to hear it. I’ll give you a different one for extra credit. _Don’t_ use it for a prank this time.”

“Okay!” Naruto grins back, then asks quietly, “Hey, Iruka sensei? Is that true? About the Uzumakis?”

“Yeah, but don’t spread it around, or the Hokage will remember and we’ll both be in trouble over your prank.” _He’s not supposed to be talking about this,_ but. Mentioning the Uzumaki clan in passing isn’t _technically_ a violation of the law.

“So I’ve got family? Really?”

Iruka winces. He’s not really sure of all the details, but he very much doubts it. “The Uzumaki clan was destroyed before I was born. I can’t tell you anymore about it. Sorry.”

“Naruto! Hurry up!” Sakura calls.

“It’s okay, Iruka sensei. Later!” Naruto says brightly and bounces off.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Iruka stares after him with a sigh, then remembers he hasn’t marked down Naruto’s results. He does that, and tries to figure out what relatively harmless thing he can give Naruto to work on next. Since the kids are evidentially _sharing_ all their schoolwork, he can’t just give him something that one of the others already has. Maybe he’ll go with questions rather than jutsus if he gives out extra credit assignments again. They’ve _got_ to be less trouble.

**Author's Note:**

>  _(shakes head at Iruka)_ Iruka, if you think them sharing jutsus and the like is bad, just wait until you see what they do with _questions._
> 
> Gotta love how much of the Naruto-verse is historically vague enough to be nigh impossible. There may have been a couple screaming fits as a by-product of writing the middle of this. Most likely there are inconsistent capitalizations. Sorry about that.
> 
> I love all your comments. Even if I can't use them right away, or use them as posited, I do think about them. Although they keep encouraging the ideas to breed like rabbits. It's slightly terrifying. haha. I now have ideas for traumatizing at least 7 different characters in various ways. Starting with Sasuke, of course. He needs more of the good kind of trauma in his life.


End file.
